..The purpose of this review was to explore possible effect modification by three covariates: the type of control intervention, decision aid quality and patients' baseline knowledge of probabilities...

..We wished to estimate the ultimate effects of treatment when randomized trials have addressed only a surrogate marker, and additional, independent studies evaluate the association between the surrogate and the final outcome...

The impact of clinical data on the evaluation of tibial fracture healing

..We illustrate these ideas through general numerical calculations and an empirical example of screening for breast cancer with magnetic resonance imaging and mammography...

LOST to follow-up Information in Trials (LOST-IT): a protocol on the potential impact

Elie A AklDepartment of Medicine, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, USATrials 10:40. 2009

..The secondary objectives are to describe, for published RCTs, (1) the reporting of loss to follow-up information, (2) the analytic methods used for handling loss to follow-up information, and (3) the extent of reported loss to follow-up...

Subgroup Analysis of Trials Is Rarely Easy (SATIRE): a study protocol for a systematic review to characterize the analysis, reporting, and claim of subgroup effects in randomized trials

..To understand parents' adaptations to their children's disabilities, the complex nature of stress processes must be accounted for and the constructs and factors that play a role in the caregiving must be considered...

Focus on Function - a randomized controlled trial comparing two rehabilitation interventions for young children with cerebral palsy

..To develop an approach by which studies describing the accuracy of diagnostic tests or clinical predictions can be combined in a meta-analysis, even though studies may report their results using different summary measures...

..To develop a method by which studies reporting the ranges (or maxima and minima) of observed outcomes can be included in systematic reviews, along with other studies reporting in the more usual way by using standard deviations (SDs)...

Statistical issues in the design and analysis of expertise-based randomized clinical trials

..Possible LCMs are characterised in terms of the number of laboratory measurements available, and if their error rates are assumed to be differential or non-differential by disease status and/or laboratory...

A geometric confidence ellipse approach to the estimation of the ratio of two variables

..General expressions for the bias are derived, and enumerated for typical scenarios. For many situations, reliability of 80 per cent or more in the observations is required to restrict the bias to tolerable levels...

..Examples include situations where one requires local estimates of PAR for a study subset (e.g., in states or counties within a national study) or if one wishes to apply the findings of an epidemiologic study to another population...

..To describe the Rasch analysis of the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM-88) and to demonstrate how the assumptions of unidimensionality, sample-free measurement, and test-free measurement were validated to create an interval level measure...

A comparison of model-building strategies for lower respiratory tract infection in long-term care

..2 to 13.6) and log percentage of residents using gastrostomy tubes within the nursing home (adjusted OR 3.9, 95% CI 1.3 to 12.0) were associated with having a clinical isolate resistant to third-generation cephalosporins...

..In a study conducted in 1966-1969, longitudinal measurements were made of the metabolic rate in growing infants. Statistical methods for analyzing longitudinal data weren't readily accessible at that time...

Relation of distribution- and anchor-based approaches in interpretation of changes in health-related quality of life

..We believe that the additional data requirements represent a small price to pay for being able to perform an analysis consistent with both concept of opportunity cost and the problem faced by decision makers...

..27 (95% CI -0.18 to 0.72). In conclusion, standardizing tests for the assessment of LTOT is important. We describe simple hospital and simulated home tests that are reproducible, easy to carry out, and correlate well with each other...

..Previous small trials have left the evidence for either approach inconclusive. We compared reamed and unreamed intramedullary nailing with regard to the rates of reoperations and complications in patients with tibial shaft fractures...

Radiographs of hip fractures were digitally altered to mask surgeons to the type of implant without compromising the reliability of quality ratings or making the rating process more difficult

..The primary objective of the current study was to examine, within a single theory-based multidimensional model, the determinants of physical and psychological health of adult caregivers of children with CP...

..Given the likelihood that N95 respirators will be in short supply during a pandemic and not available in many countries, knowing the effectiveness of the surgical mask is of public health importance...

Development and validation of item sets to improve efficiency of administration of the 66-item Gross Motor Function Measure in children with cerebral palsy

..Children and adolescents appear to play an important role in the transmission of influenza. Selectively vaccinating youngsters against influenza may interrupt virus transmission and protect those not immunized...

McMaster PLUS: a cluster randomized clinical trial of an intervention to accelerate clinical use of evidence-based information from digital libraries

..Risk was lower with consistent use of a N95 mask than with consistent use of a surgical mask. We conclude that activities related to intubation increase SARS risk and use of a mask (particularly a N95 mask) is protective...

Development of hand function among children with cerebral palsy: growth curve analysis for ages 16 to 70 months

..However, there is substantial interindividual variation. Distribution of CP and severity of impairments were significant predictors of development. Results are discussed in terms of their clinical implications...

Prognosis for gross motor function in cerebral palsy: creation of motor development curves

..Trials of surgical interventions present blinding challenges not seen in drug trials. How often orthopaedic trauma investigators undertake blinding, and the frequency with which they could potentially utilize blinding, remains uncertain...

Risk factors for resistance to antimicrobial agents among nursing home residents

..This study examined the reliability, validity, and responsiveness to change of measurements obtained with a 66-item version of the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM-66) developed using Rasch analysis...

A geometric confidence ellipse approach to the estimation of the ratio of two variables. Statistics in Medicine 2008; 27:5956-5974

..Dr Kaelin has offered to make available an Excel spreadsheet that will carry out the calculations for the method described in this paper. It is available to interested readers by contacting him at Etienne.Kaelin@pmintl.com...

The health of primary caregivers of children with cerebral palsy: how does it compare with that of other Canadian caregivers?

..98-1.24, P=0.11). Patients with CHF have a greater risk of hospitalization during the influenza season than in the non-influenza season, supporting the current belief that patients with CHF should be regarded as a high-risk group...

Developing common metrics of mechanical exposures across aetiological studies of low back pain in working populations for use in meta-analysis

..014 to 0.45. These estimates may provide useful information for the design of epidemiological studies in which the sampled (or allocated) units range in size from households to large administrative zones...